Domesticity
by domina tempore
Summary: Neal gets a little stir crazy staying in one place for too long. He's been staying with Vala for just over two weeks. (x2 Xover with White Collar and Stargate: SG1. Part 3 in my Respectable Scoundrels series.)


**Domesticity**

**Series: Respectable Scoundrels**

_Disclaimer: White Collar and Stargate both belong to their respective owners, I'm just borrowing. no copyright infringement intended!_

_Author's Note: So clearly these stories are not being posted chronologically, for which I apologize. I keep writing things out of order, it's just not feasible to post them that way._

_(Notes about timelines etc. at the end.)_

ooo

"Good morning, love. That smells amazing."

Neal looked up at Vala and grinned, flipping a pancake expertly and catching it in the pan. "Why thank you, dear. Did you know I used to be a breakfast chef at this little diner in Tokyo?"

"Was that before or after the Norwegian hair modeling job?" She said it with an impressively straight face, and Neal scrambled for a more ridiculous job story. He was still searching when she burst out laughing. "I win! The first one was very nice, but you really fell apart after that. I really must be getting clever."

"I was busy making sure I didn't burn your breakfast," Neal informed her with a chuckle. It always amazed him that she was so good at the game when she'd just woken up. Maybe if he got her to do the cooking he could get the upper hand one day.

"You really are spoiling me, darling," Vala was saying. She snatched a piece of bacon out of another pan. "I can't remember the last time that I had someone to cook for me. If you weren't so young I might have to marry you for it."

"I'm not _that_ much younger than you."

"Oh, I'm just young for my age, that's all." Vala waved a hand dismissively and unearthed a tub of chocolate ice cream from the freezer.

It was the same conversation they'd had almost every morning for the past two weeks, which was as long as Neal had been staying in her flat. He liked it. The whole thing was just a tiny bit too domestic for his taste, but he enjoyed the jokes and the banter and having someone _there_ like even Mozzie hadn't been (though he imagined she had nearly as many secrets). Meeting Vala had been more like meeting a long-lost twin, and her invitation to stay "as long as he wanted" meant that he was no longer conning his way into fancy hotel rooms that he couldn't pay for. The friendship and the safe haven were well worth a little of the quiet domestic life. He certainly had no reason to complain.

Alex got it out of him anyways.

He had met her for lunch to discuss a possible job, but somehow she'd seen right through him. "What's got you so stir crazy today?" she asked, her question coming completely out of the blue.

"I'm not stir crazy," Neal protested automatically.

Alex laughed. "Right. That's why you can't stop tapping your foot, or drumming your fingers on the table, and why you've been talking so fast that even I can barely keep up."

He bit back another reflexive argument. "Am I really doing that?"

"I haven't seen you this worked up since you got back from Greece."

Ah, Greece. _Sara_. He should probably send her a letter soon; it had been a while since the last one. But Alex really didn't need to know about Sara. "Is it bad to get too comfortable?" he asked instead. Alex had been in the business longer than he had, and he'd learned a lot from Moz, but that training had been cut unfortunately short when he had to flee to Europe. He figured that she was probably the best source of advice he was going to get.

Alex cocked her head and took a sip from her bright orange mug. "What do you mean?"

"I met someone –"

"It's a romance thing? Unless she's also a grifter, yes. Comfortable is dangerous."

Was that the vibe he was giving off? Neal decided he would need to work on that. "No, it's not a romantic thing, and she actually is like us. We did that Milan job together last month."

"Ah, so it's a Wonder Twins thing." Neal frowned at her, and Alex tried her best to look innocent. "Hey, I didn't say it first; but people talk, Neal. Especially in this business. Besides, there are much worse handles to get stuck with."

It sounded like there was a really interesting story there, but Neal knew that Alex would probably go respectable before she let it slip. "Okay, let me rephrase that, then; I'm bored."

"Bored because she's boring, or...?"

" Bored because I haven't lived in once place for this long since I was a kid, and we've got _routines_. It's too much like normal life. Where's the adventure in routines?"

Alex studied him for a minute, and Neal let his mind wander ahead as Big Ben tolled in the distance. He'd been down and discarded three different paths he could use to get out of the situation by the time Alex finally spoke. "Do you want my honest advice, Neal? Or do you want the exciting advice?"

If he was completely honest with himself, Neal wanted her to cater to the adventurer in him; but honesty and trust were rare things in this world, and Alex's offer was truly intriguing. "Let's start with the honesty, and see how it goes."

"You should enjoy this while you can." Neal was more than a little surprised with this answer. "I mean it. We all think that we want the high life; excitement and adventure and the constant adrenaline rush. But the truth is that you get _tired_. And not everybody has the opportunity that you do. You're going to miss these quiet moments when you don't have them anymore." She took another long sip of her drink before continuing. "Oh the flipside, we're _young_, and we are very good; enjoy the exciting parts to the fullest, too. This life is a hell of a lot more fun than being a normal mortal from nine to five, right?"

"I'll drink to that." Neal toasted her with his own mug, and filed her advice away in his head for later, after this job. A venture back into Copenhagen might be just what he needed to shake the complacency out of his system.

_fin. _

_Note: Set before France and Malta, obviously. Also, before Neal becomes involved in the Warehouse. But important things to note are the inclusion of Alex (who is a fairly regular part of this series), and the mention of Sara. Scoundrels canon follows that he spends some time in Greece and meets her there, and they keep in contact mainly through Neal-initiated emails and phone calls, etc. I promise I'll get the full written timelines up somewhere convenient soon!_


End file.
